At CapTech, we believe the 12 Agile Principles from the Agile Manifesto are building blocks for a successful, sustainable Agile journey. Many pitfalls that organizations experience are due to oversight and lack of adherence to the Agile Principles. In this CapTech blog series, we will review the 12 Agile Principles, common issues that lead organizations astray and solutions to get back on course throughout any Agile journey.

Agile Principle #5: Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

Long hours and burn-out have led to demotivated individuals.

There is a lack of purpose and understanding behind business priorities making it difficult to stay motivated.

The working environment stifles creativity and limits innovation.

There is a genuine lack of trust that anyone will successfully get the job done.

Managers and Teammates are overworked leaving little to no time for support of one another.

Solutions that Lead Organizations Back on Course

More is not always more - define a sustainable pace that teams can successfully maintain.

Introduce/Empower the Product Owner role - ensure Product Owners are not only maintaining healthy backlogs but providing the why behind the work so teams have purpose.

Asks teams what type of working environment they need to be successful and then create it - it could be as simple as dimming the lights and keeping noise levels low (or high).

Start building trust by eliminating micromanagement and instead holding teams accountable to what they believe they can accomplish.

Introduce/Empower the Scrum Master role - the Scrum Master can be one of the most supportive roles within a team. Scrum Masters ensure teams have the support they need or escalate quickly when that is not the case.